Writing the Novel

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• plan, structure, edit and improve your work.
• give and receive constructive criticism.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• the process of writing a novel.
• a range of contemporary novels and the stylistic and structural devices employed by their authors.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• look critically at your own work in order to edit and rewrite it as necessary to achieve a professional standard.

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• write an opening and several chapters of a novel

This module will cover the essential elements of writing a novel, including writing openings and endings, character development, structure, plot, language and style. The essentials of writing novels for children and young people will also be considered.

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods and learning activities include two two-hour seminars each week. These will be structured around writing exercises and opportunities to present and discuss work with groups of other students. Individual feedback on your work will be available from your seminar tutor during office and consultation hours and in classes. A week-by-week reading list of novels and commentaries on the subject will be provided in preparation for classes.

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Meg Rosoff (2004). How I Live Now. London: Puffin.

Louis Sachar (2000). Holes. London: Bloomsbury.

Evelyn Waugh (2002). A Handful of Dust. London: Everyman.

Sandra Newman & Howard Mittelmark (2009). How Not To Write A Novel - 200 Mistakes To Avoid at All Costs if You Ever Want To Get Published. London: Penguin.

Mark Haddon (2004). The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time. London: Vintage.

Curtis Sittenfeld (2006). Prep. London: Picador.

Anne Tyler (2007). Breathing Lessons. London: Vintage.

Julia Bell (2001). The Creative Writing Coursebook. London: Macmillan.

Frank Cottrell Boyce (2004). Millions. London: Macmillan.

John Mullan (2006). How Novels Work. Oxford: OUP.

Julia Darling (2004). The Taxi Driver's Daughter. London: Penguin.

Ali Smith (2002). Hotel World. London: Penguin.

Jane Gardam (2004). Old Filth. London: Chatto & Windus.

Virginia Woolf. Mrs. Dalloway.

Assessment strategy

Feedback and constructive criticism of draft and marked assignments will be available from seminar tutors and will enable you to critique and improve your work. For students during the referral period this may only be available via email and will depend on staff availability. Writing exercises used during the module and the discussion in seminars will provide you with potential starting points and foundations for your writing. You will be required to bring drafts of your work to seminars and to present it to groups of your fellow students for constructive criticism prior to submitting each assignment. This process will assist you in looking critically at your own work (as well as that of your fellow students) and so help you to edit and rewrite it as necessary to achieve a professional standard.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External